Reported by Reuters/Geneva
The Global Fund, an organisation that has received millions of dollars from Bill Gates but has been accused of misusing donor funds, is cutting its workforce and tightening its focus on 20 countries hardest hit by Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.
The Global Fund’s general manager Gabriel Jaramillo said in a statement that the fund had completed a re-organisation that would rebalance its workforce with 39% more people managing grants and 38% fewer in support roles.
Jaramillo took over in January after an investigation found a “grave misuse of funds” at the fund, a unique public-private financial institution that spends donor money on tackling three of the world’s biggest killer diseases.
The revelation prompted governments such as Sweden and Germany to freeze their contributions to the fund, forcing the fund to scrap new grants until 2014.
Jaramillo’s promise to bring efficiency, accountability and results got a swift vote of confidence from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which pledged $750mn in January, more than the $650mn that the Microsoft chairman’s charity has contributed since the fund’s launch 10 years ago.
But more is needed from governments, which have provided the bulk of the $22.6bn that has been raised by the Geneva-based organisation to date for its work in 150 countries, paying for 3.5mn anti-retroviral drug treatments and 9mn tuberculosis treatments.
A source close to the fund said that the re-organisation would involve about 120-130 redundancies, largely in strategy and research jobs, but more posts would also be added, so the fund would shrink from about 650 to about 600 staff overall.